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Gen. Richard Irving Dodge, General Sherman’s chief of staff, correctly states, in his “Thirty Years Among Our Wild Indians”:

“The success of every expedition against Indians depends, to a degree, on the skill, fidelity, and intelligence of the men employed as scouts and guides, for not only is the command habitually dependent on them for good routes and comfortable camps, but the officer in command must rely on their knowledge of the position and movements of the enemy.”

Our best Indian officers are quick to recognize these traits in those claiming frontier lore, and to no one in the military history of the West has such deference been shown by them as to W. F. Cody, as is witnessed by the continuous years of service he has passed, the different commands he has served, the expeditions and campaigns he has been identified with, his repeated holding, when he desired, the position of Chief of Scouts of the United States Army, and the intimate association, and contact resulting from it, with Gen. W. T. Sherman (with whom he was at the making of the Comanche and Kiowa Treaty) in 1866, Gen. Phil. Sheridan (who has often given him special recognition and chosen him to organize expeditions, notably that of the Duke Alexis), old General Harney, Generals Forsyth, Merritt, Brisbin, Emory, Gibbon, Terry, McKenzie, Carr, W. S. Hancock, Crook, Pope, Miles, Ord, Auger, Royall, Hazen, Duncan, Palmer, Penrose, and the late lamented General Custer. His history, in fact, would be almost a history of the middle West; and, though younger, equaling in term of service and in personal adventure, Kit Carson, old Jim Bridger, California Joe, Wild Bill, and the rest of his dead associates.

As another evidence of the confidence placed in his frontiersmanship, it may suffice to mention the celebrities whose money and position most naturally sought the best protection the Western market could afford, and who chose to place their lives in his keeping: Sir George Gore, the Earl of Dunraven, James Gordon Bennett, Duke Alexis, General Custer, Lawrence Jerome, Remington, Professor Ward of Rochester, Professor Marsh of Yale College, Maj. J. G. Hecksher, Doctor Kingsley (Canon Kingsley’s brother), and others of equal rank and distinction. In all books of the plains his exploits with Carr, Miles, and Crook, in the summer of 1876, when he killed Yellow Hand in front of the military command in an open hand-to-hand fight, are recorded.

The following letter of his old commander, the celebrated Indian fighter, Gen. E. A. Carr, written years ago relative to him, is a tribute as generous as any brave man has ever made to another:

“From his services in my command, steadily in the field, I am qualified to bear testimony as to his qualities and character.

“He was very modest and unassuming. He is a natural gentleman in his manners as well as in character, and has none of the roughness of the typical frontiersman. He can take his own part when required, but I have never heard of his using a knife or a pistol, or engaging in a quarrel where it could be avoided. His personal strength and activity are very great, and his temper and disposition are so good that no one has reason to quarrel with him.

“His eyesight is better than a good field-glass; he is the best trailer I ever heard of, and also the best judge of the ‘lay of country’—that is, he is able to tell what kind of country is ahead, so as to know how to act. He is a perfect judge of distance, and always ready to tell correctly how many miles it is to water, or to any place, or how many miles have been marched....

“Mr. Cody seemed never to tire, and was always ready to go in the darkest night or the worst weather, and usually volunteered, knowing what the emergency required. His trailing, when following Indians, or looking for stray animals, or for game, is simply wonderful. He is a most extraordinary hunter.

“In a fight, Mr. Cody is never noisy, obstreperous, or excited. In fact, I hardly ever noticed him in a fight unless I happened to want him, or he had something to report, when he was always in the right place, and his information was always valuable and reliable.

“During the winter of 1868 we encountered hardships and exposure in terrific snow-storms and sleet. On one occasion that winter Mr. Cody showed his quality by quietly offering to go with some dispatches to General Sheridan across a dangerous region of 300 miles where other principal scouts were reluctant to risk themselves.

“Mr. Cody has since served with me as post guide and scout at Fort McPherson, where he frequently distinguished himself.

“In the summer of 1876 Cody went with me to the Black Hills region, where he killed Yellow Hand. Afterward he was with the Big Horn and Yellowstone expedition. I consider that his services to the country and the army by trailing, finding, and fighting Indians, and thus protecting the frontier settlers, and by guiding commands over the best and most practicable routes, have been invaluable.”

DANGER AHEAD.

Thus it will be seen that notwithstanding it will sometimes be thought his fame rests upon the pen of the romancer, had they never been attracted to him—and they were solely by his sterling worth—W. F. Cody would none the less have been a remarkable character in American history.

The history of such a man, attractive as it has already been to the most distinguished officers and fighters in the United States Army, must prove doubly so to men, women, and children who have heretofore found only in novels the hero of rare exploits, on which imagination so loves to dwell.

As a proof that our great military leaders and the officers of the United States Army recognize the value of Buffalo Bill as a scout, guide, and Indian fighter, and that though I am writing of one of whom more stories of romance have been written than of any other individual living or dead, it will be well to turn to the letters of commendation from prominent personages in another part of this book, and the quotations which are given in this chapter from such authorities as General Sheridan’s “Autobiography,” Captain Price’s “Across the Continent with the Fifth Cavalry,” Colonel Dodge’s “Thirty Years Among the Indians,” etc.

These indorsements stamp Buffalo Bill as one whose deeds speak for themselves, and show conclusively that he is not a pen-made man, but worthy of all said and written of him.